MY BIGGEST SPORTS UPSETS OF THE YEAR

There's nothing better in sports than a big upset, and 2018 had plenty of them. From an NCAA Tournament first, to an early shocker in college football, to a spate of surprising NFL outcomes, this year has had plenty of stunners. Let's take a look at some of my biggest upsets of 2018.

VIKINGS OVER SAINTS

This one isn't an upset because of the result itself — both teams were in the playoffs and the Vikings were at home, so on paper it was an even game — and one perhaps that Minnesota should have one. It still stands as one of the biggest upsets of 2018 because of how it went down. Needing a field goal to tie, and in big trouble, Case Keenum hits Stefon Diggs, the Saints miss a tackle, and the Minneapolis Miracle is born. Enough said.

UMBC OVER VIRGINIA

This is the biggest upset of 2018. There is no close second. Jairus Lyles and the UMBC Retrievers made NCAA Tournament history as the first 16 seed to knock off a No. 1, and they did so in dominant, spectacular fashion, trouncing Virginia 74-54. Lyles and the Retrievers beat the Cavaliers to the rim repeatedly, and devastated their pack line defense. The lopsided nature of the result made it no less surreal to witness in real time. 

LOYOLA-CHICAGO OVER TENNESSEE

The Ramblers and Sister Jean captured the hearts and minds of the country during their Cinderella run to the Final Four. The biggest upset along the way was a shocker over third-seeded Tennessee that sent Loyola-Chicago to the Sweet 16. After surviving Miami in the opening round, Clayton Custer hit a mid-range jumper that touched just about every piece of the rim to send the Vols packing. 

NEVADA OVER CINCINNATI

A seven-seed beating a two-seed is an upset but under normal circumstances maybe not a massive one. Nevada's win over the Bearcats was anything but normal. The Wolfpack trailed sixth-ranked Cincinnati virtually all game and were down 22 with 11 minutes to play. They came all the way back, thanks in large part to a 16-0 run, and took the lead on a Josh Hall floater with 9.1 seconds left. Those 9.1 seconds represented the only time all night that Nevada had the lead, but it was enough to send the Wolfpack to the Sweet 16.

SYRACUSE OVER MICHIGAN STATE

Jim Boeheim's team played ugly basketball. There is no other way to describe it. The Orange frustrated opponents with the head coach's legendary 2-3 zone, and though many felt that the 11th-seeded Orange didn't deserve a spot in the NCAA Tournament, they managed to shock the third-seeded Spartans. Syracuse fielded only seven scholarship players, but it was enough, and a late Tyus Battle jumper was the crucial blow as the Orange, undermanned and disrespected, somehow advanced to the Sweet 16.

FLORIDA STATE OVER XAVIER

Florida State has great athletic talent every year, but it doesn't always translate to great basketball. That's one major reason why most experts thought it had a chance against top-seed Xavier, but not a great one. The Seminoles proved their worth, though, rallying from 12 points down in the final 10:42 to gain a 75-70 win. That comeback included a 7-0 run to end the game and provided a bitter end to a Xavier campaign that had legitimate Final Four hopes.

NOTRE DAME OVER UCONN

You'd look at the seeds and say, "a No. 1 beating a No. 1 in the Final Four isn't an upset," but the UConn women are such a singular entity that any time they lose, it feels newsworthy. The Huskies entered the game 36-0 and a heavy favorite to win yet another national title, but they left empty-handed after Arike Ogunbowale hit a 17-foot dagger to give the Irish a thrilling 91-89 win. It was a nice primer for Ogunbowale's national-title winning shot two nights later against Mississippi State.

PELICANS OVER TRAIL BLAZERS

The NBA playoffs are often the worst place to look for upsets because the league is so star-heavy, and super teams are the order of the day. Well, specifically the Warriors, but you get the idea. The sixth-seeded Pelicans trouncing the third-seeded Trail Blazers in a decisive sweep qualifies. Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday led New Orleans to a series victory where only one game was decided by one score. The Blazers were still licking their wounds when the 2018-19 season started.

VEGAS OVER WINNIPEG

The expansion Golden Knights were an incredible, improbable story all year long, and at a certain point it was accepted that they were actually quite good and that they were going to make the playoffs. Many assumed that the run would end early in the postseason, but they swept the Kings then beat the Sharks, which set up a matchup with the powerhouse Jets. Winnipeg was arguably the league's second-best team during the regular season, but the Jets were no match for Marc-Andre Fleury and his mates. The veteran backstop guided the Golden Knights to a decisive five-game series victory, which sent them to the Stanley Cup Final.

JOHN MILLMAN OVER ROGER FEDERER

Most observers figured that Roger Federer, well into his 30s and still very much a dominant force, would trounce Australian John Millman in the U.S. Open Round of 16. After Federer won the opening set, that looked like a safe prediction. But Millman got up off the deck and rallied in spectacular fashion, winning the next three sets, the last two of them in tiebreakers, to topple Federer and advance to the quarterfinals. 

NAOMI OSAKA OVER SERENA WILLIAMS

Williams is the greatest female tennis player of all time, so whenever she loses its news. Her U.S. Open finals loss to Osaka, who idolized her, was certainly shocking but also overshadowed to some degree due to controversy surrounding Williams' interactions with the chair umpire. While that confrontation grabbed most of the headlines, when the dust settled Osaka did get her due for the shocking title win.

BUCCANEERS OVER SAINTS

Perhaps at the time, this one didn't look like a huge upset, but what the Saints have done since certainly makes it qualify. Week 1 opened with a wildly entertaining shootout between Drew Brees and Ryan Fitzpatrick, and the Bucs recovered two fumbles, one for a touchdown, that helped them jump out to a 48-24 lead and then hang on for the win. Fitzpatrick threw for 417 yards and four touchdowns to fuel the Bucs' offense.

CANELO ALVAREZ OVER GENNADY GOLOVKIN

This result is listed for a few reasons, though if you know anything about the seedier underbelly of boxing, you know that the younger, more bankable star winning a fight where most observers thought he closely, clearly lost is actually not an upset. Still, after a suspect draw in their first fight, one that virtually everyone felt was won by Golovkin, Alvarez went toe-to-toe with arguably the most feared fighter on the planet and evidently did enough in the eyes of the judges to get the win. An upset? Sure. Surprising? Not necessarily.

AKRON OVER NORTHWESTERN

Quick: When was the last time Akron beat a Big Ten team before this game? If you said, "1894 when they topped Ohio State and were known as Buchtel College," congratulations. Come collect your prize. The Zips trailed 21-3 at the half but roared back to score 36 second-half points, 21 of them on defense, and won 39-34. Northwestern eventually winning the Big Ten West and playing for the conference title makes this upset even more delicious.

BYU OVER WISCONSIN

The Cougars entered Camp Randall Stadium as 23.5 point underdogs and left with a 24-21 win over then-No. 6 Wisconsin. Subsequent events may have blunted the impact of this win, as the Badgers went on to lose four more games this year. But BYU sauntering into one of the toughest venues in college football and coming out with a win shook the college football landscape when it happened.

OLD DOMINION OVER VIRGINIA TECH

The Hokies, at the time ranked 13th in the nation, strolled into Norfolk as 28.5 point favorites and promptly lost to the previously winless Monarchs. The 49-35 result, one that featured 28 fourth-quarter points from ODU, was shocking in and of itself. But the fact that it happened on the strength of a 495-yard, four-touchdown performance from Blake LaRussa, the Monarchs' backup quarterback, makes it easily the biggest upset of the college football season. Oh, and it was also Old Dominion's first win over a Power 5 opponent — ever.

LIONS OVER PATRIOTS

The student beat the teacher in this one, and given how bad the Lions looked in their first two games of the year, some thought it might be a truly humiliating bloodletting going the other way. Instead, Matt Patricia's team rallied and stomped all over the Patriots, drilling them 26-10. Matt Stafford threw two touchdowns, and the Lions' much-maligned defense harassed Tom Brady into a terrible performance — one that saw him throw for a paltry 133 yards.

BILLS OVER VIKINGS

If you pay attention to betting lines in the NFL, you're doubtless aware that point spreads rarely rise to double digits, owing to the mostly even talent level throughout the league. That said they hardly ever get to 17 points. When they do, the 17-point underdogs hardly ever win. The Bills' Week 3 shocker over the Vikings was the biggest NFL upset in 23 years, dating back to when the Redskins beat the Cowboys as a 17.5-point dog in 1995. Oh, and it wasn't close. Buffalo jumped out to a 27-0 lead and won 27-6.

ROCKIES OVER CUBS

No one outside of Denver thought that the Rockies had a chance against the Cubs in the National League Wild Card Game, but Colorado hung tough in an incredibly tense, 13-inning affair. An unlikely hero emerged in the top of the 13th, as light-hitting catcher Tony Wolters made the most of his only plate appearance in the game, grounding a single up the middle to score Trevor Story with what proved to be the winning run. Baseball fans everywhere but the north side of Chicago rejoiced.

OREGON STATE OVER COLORADO

The Beavers entered the game a 24.5-point underdog, and for a while things played out according to script. Colorado was up 28 points, and then things went off the rails for the Buffaloes. Down 31-3 in the early stages of the third quarter, Oregon State outscored Colorado 31-3 the rest of regulation, including 24 points in the fourth quarter. They had a chance to win with a late touchdown, but the extra point was blocked, which forced overtime. The Beavers stayed the course in OT and won, 41-34, snapping a 22-game road losing streak.

UNLV OVER SAN DIEGO STATE

You may not think of this as a huge upset, partly because the Aztecs, while a good program, are hardly a household name. Still, they're one of the best programs in the Mountain West, year after year, and UNLV is not. The Rebels were a 22.5-point underdog and trailed 24-13 entering the fourth quarter, but they scored two unanswered touchdowns in the final 15 minutes to win, 27-24. 

TITANS OVER PATRIOTS

Bill Belichick hasn't had much luck this year when going against former staff members. Mike Vrabel's Titans hammered the Pats even more soundly than the Lions did, jumping out to a big lead and battering New England throughout the day. Tennessee jumped out to a 17-3 lead and never blinked, matching New England's lone touchdown with one of its own right before the end of the first half. The 24-10 halftime advantage turned into a 34-10 rout, and the Pats' six-game winning streak went kaput. 

FURMAN OVER VILLANOVA

Villanova, the defending national champions, hadn't lost back-to-back games since the end of the 2012-13 season. Things were bad enough when the Wildcats got stomped by Michigan in a title-game rematch this year, but they followed that up with a truly shocking loss to the Paladins a mere three days later. Jordan Lyons, whose previous outing saw him match the single-game three-point record, had 17 points to help Furman spring the massive upset.

COWBOYS OVER SAINTS

The Saints went into Dallas winners of 10 in a row and in possession of the NFC's No. 1 seed, not to mention arguably the scariest offense in the league. They left big D with a loss and very little in the way of offensive numbers. Dallas shut out the Saints' high-powered attack in the first half, marking the first time that had happened in several years. The last team to do it to New Orleans? Dallas, of course. Even though the Cowboys might well win the NFC East, the Saints' reputation was so gaudy that this more than qualifies as a big upset.

CARDINALS OVER PACKERS

This was the final straw that got Mike McCarthy fired, and a struggling rookie quarterback beating Aaron Rodgers definitely qualifies as a major upset. But it's a testament to how much disarray the Packers are in that this result isn't as completely inconceivable as it should be on paper. The Cardinals went punch for punch with Green Bay, got to 20 points for only the third time all season and got the win, 20-17. Given Rodgers' apparent unhappiness with McCarthy, this might have been a blessing in disguise for Green Bay.